Dear Diary: Beginning the Third Year
by Sandileina
Summary: Two weeks in the life of Kirihara Akaya, during the beginning of his third year at Rikkai Dai. Oh, and snippets of the rest of our beloved Rikkai boys too!


**Disclaimer: **Here's a random fact: Cornwall is the most radioactive place in England. Here's another random fact: I don't own Prince of Tennis, or any of the characters. :)

**Rating: **PG

**Warnings: **Some language, shounen-ai/yaoi

**Summary: **Two weeks in the life of Kirihara Akaya, during the beginning of his third year at Rikkai Dai. Oh, and snippets of the rest of our beloved Rikkai boys too!

**Author's notes:** Another Rikkai Drabblething. **You don't have to have read the ones that come before this, but it might help a bit. **The drabblething list goes:

**Times of Stress**

**Passing the Time**

**How to ask out Marui Bunta**

**Four Days Later**

**October Ice**

**Because I Love You**

**Evil**

**Further Nonsense**

**Dear Diary**

**Kind of… the same**

**100 Word Challenges**

**Driver in a Hurry, Child in a Coma**

**Doctor, doctor!**

**The Woes of Solomon Grundy**

**I'm Not Going**

**The Little Things**

**I Had To**

**He WHAT?!**

**Operation: Christmas Party**

**Being Fukubuchou**

**Once Upon a Time**

**My Brother Bunta**

**Dear Diary: Living with Niou-senpai**

**A Morning at the Pool**

**This is Love**

**SFRR**

**And So It Begins**

**Most Unexpected**

**This Is March 5****th**

**No Small Wonder**

**The Last Day Of A Stage in Life**

**Back to Basics**

**Blame it On the Damn Vodka**

**Papercuts**

**The Stuff of Myths**

**Finally Understood**

**Dear Diary: Beginning the Third Year**

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**April 17th, 2007**

Dear Diary,

I had a revelation today! I don't have to call Niou-senpai Niou-senpai anymore! Cos, see, he's not technically my senpai cos he's in high school now.

… No, wait, he still goes to Rikkai Dai. So… hmm. And I guess if I stopped, then that would be kind of stupid cos I'd have to start calling him senpai again next year. Damn. _Damn_.

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**April 18th**

"The word of the day is Turkland," Akaya said decisively, chucking his apple core towards the bin. It glanced off the rim and landed on the grass and Akaya rolled his eyes, crawling a couple of steps forward and putting it in the bin properly before sitting back down.

"Turkland?"

"Yep."

Yanagi looked vaguely confused. "What's Turkland?"

"He means Turkey," Marui explained, not looking up from his latest crime thriller. "Don't you, Akaya?"

"Um. I think so. Do they have elephants in Turk…ey?"

"I don't think so. Not naturally, anyway."

"What about camels?"

"No."

Akaya looked disappointed.

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Dear Diary,

Turkey is a rubbish country.

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**April 19th**

Dear Diary,

It's not getting any less weird not having any of my senpai around at school. Everyone else is getting used to it, but I'm not. I guess cos I never really hung out with anyone from my year. Hmm.

I love being buchou, though. It's _amazing_. It's… Hang on, I'll check the thesaurus.

Splendiferous! It's splendiferous being buchou. I have an actual excuse to throw balls at the first years instead of just using 'I'm better than all of you'. Although that still applies, obviously. Plus I get to teach them tennis, which is kinda fun. Was I that small when I was their age, though? Surely not.

The fukubuchou, Hirosawa, is kinda weird. He's a lot like Jackal-senpai, actually; he acts all high-strung and stuff, but he's actually pretty cool and not bothered about things. I don't like him much. He gets this kind of 'I guess I'll indulge him' look when I do stuff like… well, like throw stuff at the first years. And second years. And most of the third years too, come to think of it… Anyway, I wish he was more like fukubuchou. I mean, sorry, Sanada-senpai.

… No, that's weird. He's fukubuchou. Hirosawa just… isn't.

-----------------------

**April 20th**

"It's raining pretty hard," Marui said lazily, towelling at his hair with his t-shirt. Niou snorted and flicked a pebble at him. It glanced off Marui's arm, and he chucked the wet t-shirt at him in return. "Bastard," he muttered when Niou caught it with a smirk.

"Same to you."

The door opened and the third-year captain, Mine Takashi, came in with an umbrella. He shook it off briefly before coming properly inside the clubhouse. He gave Marui and Niou a nod of greeting and went over to the wall, pinning up the poster with the match lineups for Monday. It was a bit wonky, but he didn't bother to correct it.

"You're definitely trying for Regulars, right?" he asked the two.

They nodded. Niou said, "We'll make it, too. Well, I will, anyway. Not so sure about the sugar freak."

"Sugar freak?"

Niou nodded towards Marui, who shrugged and gave a grin. "He should really add 'tensai' in there, but his brain finds it hard to string together sentences so I let him off." Niou flipped him off casually and Mine laughed.

"Well, I wish you luck. You guys are good, I know, but there's some really tough competition. We'll see how the matches turn out."

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Dear Diary,

Maru-chan's been practising really hard so that he can be a Regular with Mura-buchou and everyone. He says that he's better at doubles than singles, but cos the ranking matches don't let you play doubles, he might not get in. He really wants to. So he's practising a _lot_. I don't mind, cos I like playing tennis with him. I let him win the first time, to make him feel better, but he got annoyed and told me to play as though I was playing fukubuchou, otherwise he'll go practise with someone else instead. So then I thrashed him, which can't have been good for his self-esteem thingy, right?

Maru-chan's strange. Oh well. He's got all weekend to practise, so that's alright.

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**April 21st**

Dear Diary,

I've been a third year and the tennis team buchou for exactly twenty days.

… DAMN no I haven't, it's only been nineteen days. Or… has it? Wait a sec while I count.

No, it's been twenty. But how does that work? Twenty-one minus two is nineteen. So how come it's the 21st and I was a third year from the 2nd onwards but it's been twenty days?

Or maybe you just don't count the 2nd… Or…

My brain hurts.

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**April 22nd**

"I know it's Sunday," Yukimura sighed, shutting his textbook, "but I just can't help feeling that it's Saturday."

"It's probably the physics. Who do you have?"

"Sakuma-sensei. He's the one with the bizarre ties and the little goatee."

"Ah, him. He's the one that likes giving lessons on the probability of parallel universes, isn't he?"

"That's him." Yukimura yawned and pointed towards the little blue plate on his bed. "Pass me a cookie would you, Renji?"

Yanagi picked up two, passing one to Yukimura and biting into the second himself.

"What's the time?" his friend asked through a mouthful of cookie crumbs - Yukimura could never be bothered with his usual impeccable etiquette when it was this time of night and he was with Yanagi or Sanada.

"Half ten. I have to be going in twenty minutes."

"Alright." Yukimura eyed his physics textbook resignedly and said, "I guess we'd better finish this off, then. I'm sure we didn't get this much homework last year, even though we had exams."

"We got an awful lot of revision, though, so I suppose the overall amount is reasonably equal." Yanagi swallowed his cookie and reached over to reopen the textbook. "Where did Genichiroh say he was going, again?"

"To study with Atobe. Read as 'naked', I say."

Yanagi was momentarily torn between cringing at the mental image that brought up and suppressed hilarity. He settled for not-quite-so-suppressed hilarity.

-----------------------

Dear Diary,

Too much homework! Too much, I say!! My hand is _killing_ me. I'm only managing to write right now through sheer willpower. And I wanted to complain to you because it's eleven at night so I can't phone Maru-chan and Niou-senpai's asleep and if I wake him up he might dangle Mr. Wiggles over me again and that tarantula bloody scares me and I'm putting too many 'ands' in this sentence but I can't stop writing _oh dear gods_ this is what happens when I drink too much coffee to keep me awake so I can finish my homework _why won't my hand stop writing_ HELP ME NIOU-SENPAI!!

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"Bratling, shut the fuck up!"

Ahh, peace and quiet. A pillow to the head was always a good solution.

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**April 23rd**

Dear Diary,

I wonder if Jackal-senpai would grow his hair out if there was a national ban on baldness. Or whether he'd just wear an anti-bald device.

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**April 24th**

Yagyuu blinked and looked up from his book as a slender shadow fell across it. The sunlight glinted off his glasses and he raised a hand to adjust them slightly, keeping his place in his book with a finger. "Good morning," he said politely.

"Oh, good morning. I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were sitting here." The speaker was a girl, giving him a sheepish smile and indicating upwards at the broad, leafy branches of the tree Yagyuu was sitting under. "I come here to study and eat lunch. You're Yagyuu-kun, right?"

"That is correct, yes."

"I thought so. You're in my friend's class." The girl sat down rather clumsily, a little further away from the tree trunk than Yagyuu, and gave him a lopsided grin. "I'm Ohtani Kae. Pleased to meet you."

"Yagyuu Hiroshi. My pleasure." They shook hands briefly, and then Yagyuu went back to his book.

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Dear Diary,

I just remembered an anti-bald device is a wig. Heh, heh… I blame English and maths. They fry my brain. I also blame the upcoming Prefectural tournament. How am I supposed to know which people should be in the Regulars team? That should be Hirosawa's job!

I hate responsibility.

Let's see. Ok, well, I'm playing Singles 1. So that leaves six more places. No, five, cos Hirosawa's pretty good. No, six, cos we should have a reserve I guess, right?

Maybe we should hold ranking tournaments, like they do at Seigaku and at Rikkai High. Except that'd mean paperwork and stuff. Yeah, the 'picking the good ones based on the practice sessions' seems like the best idea. No wonder Mura-buchou and fukubuchou stuck with it. Hmm.

Meh, I'll do it tomorrow. Or make Hirosawa do it.

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**April 25th**

Dear Diary,

Guess what? Niou-senpai's going on a d-a-t-e! With that Hyoutei guy in my year. Whatshisface. Ohtori, or something. He played doubles with Shishido, I know that much. Weird. I thought he was like, Christian? So what's he doing going out with Niou-senpai, who is literally the anti-Christ, but more snarky rock-punk than hellfire and brimstone?

Hmm. Does the anti-Christ like tennis? I don't know much about Christianity. Maybe I should read the…

Damn, I can't remember what the Christian holy book thingy is. Do they have one? Maybe they just have a symbolic lobster statue somewhere that gives them advice. No, wait, they do have a holy book, cos I remember Yanagi-senpai talking about how it was written in the (AH! I remember!) BIBLE - that's it, I knew it began with a 'b' – that the son of God was made of bread, or something like that… I wasn't really listening.

Wait, does that mean he goes soggy in the rain?

-----------------------

**April 26th**

"You want some bubblegum?" Marui offered. Sanada and Yagyuu shook their heads, but Jackal nodded and took a piece, popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly.

"What flavour's this?" he asked after a moment, frowning in puzzlement.

Marui shrugged and inspected the packet. "Dunno. It's new. Let's see… Nuh, it's written in English. What's that say, Yanagi?" He showed him the yellow packet.

"… I believe it says 'Hedgehog flavour'."

"_Hedgehog _flavour?!"

"15-0!"

Niou immediately raised his racquet in protest. "That point doesn't count," he argued. "I got distracted by Maru's crazy-ass bubblegum."

"You should pay more attention," the second year said unsympathetically. He nodded to Niou's opponent and said, "Serve the next ball, please."

Niou gave Marui one of his Death Glares From Hell(tm) and got back into position on the court, ignoring Jackal's choking noises.

The Brazilian player's eyes were watering, and he apparently had the gum stuck in his throat. Sanada hit him on the back and Jackal managed to spit the gum out.

"I am resisting the urge to _claw_ my tongue off," he gasped. "Remind me never to eat a hedgehog."

"Kuwahara Jackal? It's your turn on court B!"

"Oh, _crap_…"

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Dear Diary,

Well, it's Thursday and Maru-chan's doing well in the ranking tournaments. Jackal-senpai and Yanagi-senpai got knocked out though. Wow… there must be loads of really good people in the Koukou ((1)) tennis club. Yanagi-senpai and Jackal-senpai are pretty good, especially Yanagi-senpai. I can beat him now, though! Finally! So now I just have to beat fukubuchou and Mura-buchou. That might be tricky, cos Mura-buchou just keeps on getting better… Maybe I can distract him with something shiny.

Oh, wait, that only works on magpies and other weird birds.

Still, it's worth a shot…

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**April 27th**

Dear Diary,

'Operation: Distract Mura-buchou with Something Shiny' was a failure. Damn. Pity he's not an Aries, otherwise it might've worked.

9:20 pm – I just got told by Niou-senpai that Aries is a ram, not a bird. How does that make any sense? The sign's called Aries, as in air, right? Sheep can't fly.

… Can they?

9:23 – No, they can't. Maybe if you attached wings to a camel then it could fly and then it could teach the sheep… Anyway, sheep can't fly, so it's stupid to call the sign Aries.

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**April 28th**

Sanada had a very small, gentle smile on his face as he watched Atobe curse at his curtains in several different languages, mainly German and French.

The heavy curtains had come down from the curtain poles, knocking Atobe over and tangling him in them, a predicament that was only getting worse the more Atobe tried to escape them. He knew he should probably help his boyfriend, but it was rare to get the chance to just be able to watch him without Atobe complaining about it or making some innuendo-filled comment or striking a deliberately ridiculous pose.

The lump of velvet finally stilled, and a muffled, extremely annoyed-sounding Atobe said, "Ore-sama is _not_ pleased right now. Ore-sama would _like some help_ before ore-sama is forced to take drastic measures and kick his lover out of the house."

Sanada's smile got a little bigger hearing Atobe refer to himself as 'ore-sama', something the ex-Hyoutei captain practically never did around him unless it was to put across a very dry point of humour. In this case, though, Sanada got the message. Atobe wanted help or he would forcibly distance himself from Sanada for the next couple of days until he felt his pride had suitably soothed itself.

Walking over, Sanada knelt down and started carefully and methodically untangling the heavy material. It didn't take long before Atobe was free, grumpily tugging at his ruffled hair and clothes and trying to glare a hole through the offending curtains.

"They will be burnt," he announced. "And there will be a short poem describing all their shortcomings as curtains."

Sanada resisted the urge to laugh and brushed a hand over Atobe's shoulder soothingly. "Don't burn them. It's a waste. They're good curtains."

Atobe snorted. "They attacked me."

"Maybe they just loved you so much that they wanted to be closer to you."

Atobe considered this. "Hmm. I wouldn't blame them." He gave Sanada a sudden, brief smirk and kissed him.

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Dear Diary,

I love it when it's Saturday and Maru-chan can come round and Niou-senpai and Niou-senpai's aunt and uncle are out of the house. :)

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**April 29th**

_Dear Diary_, Akaya wrote. He paused and looked at the two words for a few moments, wondering what to write. In the end he settled for, _Not much happened today. It was hot. That's it._ Then he decided that that sounded kind of angry, and added, _It was good though. Me and Maru and Jackal-senpai had ice cream. I had chocolate flavour. Maru and Jackal-senpai had strawberry. Oh, no, wait, Jackal-senpai had raspberry. That's the one. Eh, all berries are the same anyway. Except for blackberries. Wait, what are blueberries, then? Are they the ones that look like blue blackberries? No, wait, that's blackcurrants. Or… Nuh, I'm confused now. I'll ask Niou-senpai when he comes in. He's gone somewhere with Yagyuu-senpai. Probably committing some sort of crime._

Yeah, that looked alright. Akaya closed his diary and put it back under his futon pillow until the next day.

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(1) Koukou: High school. Rikkai Dai Fuzokuchuu is the junior high section; 'chuu' is short for 'chuugaku' which means junior high, and 'fuzokuchuu' means it's attached to a university (in this case, Rikkai Daigaku). So the high school section is Rikkai Dai Fuzokukou. Just so you know. n.n If that makes sense to you.

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Sandy: There are crisps in England that are Hedgehog flavoured. I kid you not.

Please, please review and feed my soul! I'll love you lots. And if you could please quote your favourite bit from this or any other Drabblething in your review, then I'd love you _even more_. n.n You don't have to though, of course; it would just help me out. –Nodnod-

Until next time!


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